Repair Registry File

[harry211]

Hi, I need to repair a pc with a damaged or corrupt "software" registry file, i have copied the software file from the windows repair directory and can now boot the pc ok, however i need to repair the damaged file to enable my programs to run since some of them contain settings and data which i can only access from within the programs, i have tried a program called registry drill which has an option to load a file not in the current registry,when i attemt to load the file the pc crashes, are there any other programs or methods which i can use to repair this file?
many thanks

 

[linney]

If you now have a working machine see if System Restore is a viable option?

Have a look at this procedure too.

Guided Help to recover a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Or this.

An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

If they don't work you could try repairing windows by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

 

[harry211]

Hi Linney, thanks for the reply, unfortunatly there are no system restore points on the pc, i cloned the drive and attempted to do a windows repair setup but as soon as windows setup does the "checking for existing version of windows" part, the computer resets itself probably due to the corrupt registry file, i have copied the software file found in the windows repair folder and the pc now boots but i now need to repair the original software registry file.
Thanks

 

[linney]

Are you using this method to do the repair?

"Method 2: Repair install of Windows XP by starting your computer from the Windows XP CD"

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

 

[harry211]

Yes Method 2

 

[linney]

Maybe you are being forced into saving your valuable data and then formatting and a clean install?

There are logs created during Setup which may offer further explanations as to what the problem is. You can review the Setupapi.log file, the Setupact.log file, and the Setuperr.log file (in the Windows folder) to try to determine any problems.

Windows Setup and Device Installation Logging

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/install/setupapi.mspx

 

[linney]

One last thought, have you tried running ChkDsk /r from the Recovery Console in case there is file, or physical, problems with the drive?

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[harry211]

Thanks Linney, tried chkdsk /r but its definately the reg file which is the problem, i have copied it and checked it using a program called regdatxp and could possibly recover about 25% of it using this program, my main problem is that there were lots of thumbnails available in photoshop elements v4, the original photos were deleted long ago and the drive has since been cloned after developing bad blocks, i have left questions in the adobe forum to see if these can be restored from a thumbnail cache, the ideal solution would have been to repair the pc into a functioning state with the original registry.
Appreciate the Help
Many Thanks

 

[harry211]

Just to update this thread, I ran some file recovery software on the drive (get data back) and was able to recover a restore point from an previous partition (about a year old) after renaming and then dropping these into the system32\config directory the pc now boots fine and i can access all data.
Many Thanks